Europe gives US airlines 'go green' ultimatum

US airlines must pay for their carbon dioxide emissions or face a curb on flights to the European Union, the EU transport commissioner has warned.

The "go green" ultimatum was issued by Jacques Barrot as the transatlantic airline market undergoes its biggest shakeup in 30 years when limits on flights between the EU and US are lifted this month. Barrot said negotiations on a second phase for the treaty, will include a demand that US carriers join the EU emissions trading scheme or an equivalent system in the US.

He added that requests by Washington for data on passengers overflying the US are disproportionate and will not be accepted by the EU, in a warning that aviation security measures across the Atlantic are becoming too draconian.

However, the environmental dispute between the EU and the US administration, which is refusing to let airlines join a carbon trading scheme, is set to escalate following Barrot's comments on Open Skies negotiations. Discussions on a second phase with officials from the US department of transportation begin in May and Barrot said the EU had the power to withdraw flying rights if a deal is not reached.

"It's always possible to imagine reducing the number of flights or suspending certain rights," he said. The commissioner added that a member of the US Congress environment committee believed a deal on emissions will be possible once the Bush administration ends.

"He told me that attitudes are changing. Particularly with Bush and Cheney gone there is a real hope of things moving on." He added: "The new administration will be under pressure to take new measures."

EU airlines must join the emissions trading scheme in 2012, which could add up to £13 to the price of a return flight as carriers buy "carbon credits" to atone for the emissions made during a flight. All airlines flying in and out of the EU must subscribe to the scheme, including foreign carriers, but the move is opposed by the US. The International Air Transport Association, which represents more than 200 international airlines, has warned that 170 countries oppose the move and it will result in states taking legal action against Europe rather than co-operating with it.

In an interview with guardian.co.uk, Barrot said he would make the environment a priority in negotiations.

"The ideal would be to get the US to join a common emissions trading scheme. If not, we should at least get the US to accept American airlines joining the system for flights into Europe." European carriers want foreign rivals co-opted on to the scheme because airlines who refuse to buy carbon credits will offer lower fares. A spokesman for British Airways said: "In the medium term we want the European scheme to apply to all flights departing from Europe."

The transport secretary, Ruth Kelly, also waded into the argument last year, accusing the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation of a committing a "very great failing" in not setting up a global emissions scheme for airlines. Barrot will also demand that the US government lift restrictions on foreign ownership of airlines and accept EU security procedures. Under the terms of Open Skies, EU states can suspend flights from the US to Europe if insufficient progress is made on a second phase by 2010. The suspensions, which relate to new services that have been launched under the first phase of Open Skies, can take place from 2012.

Barrot, who is taking temporary charge of negotiations between the EU and the US department for homeland security, also criticised some demands for passenger information. He described as "excessive" a request for data on all passengers overflying but not landing in the US.

"I don't see how we can accept this provision that does not seem necessary to us," he said. He added that EU airline passengers are already strictly vetted before boarding the aircraft.

"Any demand placed by the US has to be a proportionate response to existing security problems ... Passenger overflying is not proportionate, given that overflying rights are granted to all airlines on the assumption that the security controls they carry out are in order."

Barrot said negotiating security measures with non-EU states is becoming increasingly fraught, adding that the EU had "had enough trouble" persuading Russia to drop a plan to charge a toll for flying over Siberia. However, the commissioner said the EU had "good reason" to co-operate closely with the US over airline security measures.